MARTHA STEWART MEETS WITH HER EMPLOYEES AT MARTHA STEWART LIVING OMNIMEDIA

Susan Lyne, CEO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (right) looks on while Martha Stewart addresses her employees on 3/7/05 at a staff meeting held at the New York corporate offices of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia to welcome her back after five months in prison. (UPI Photo/Ezio Petersen)

Martha Stewart (née Kostyra; born August 3, 1941) is an American business magnate, media personality, author, and magazine publisher. As founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, she has gained success through a variety of business ventures, encompassing publishing, broadcasting, and merchandising. Her syndicated talk show, Martha, is broadcast throughout the world, she has written numerous bestselling books, and she is the publisher of Martha Stewart Living magazine.

In 2004, she was convicted of lying to investigators about a stock sale and served five months in a West Virginia federal prison. Although the media widely speculated that the situation would effectively be the end of her media empire, Stewart began a comeback campaign in 2005, with her company returning to profitability the following year.

Martha Stewart was born in Jersey City, New Jersey to middle-class Polish American parents, Edward "Eddie" Kostyra (c. 1912 – 1979) and Martha Ruszkowski Kostyra (b. September 16, 1914, Buffalo, New York – d. November 16, 2007, Norwalk, Connecticut). She lived in Jersey City until the age of 3, when her family moved to Nutley. She was raised in Nutley along with her five siblings. She took the name "Grace" for her confirmation name before graduating from Nutley High School.

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